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BRUTON CP STATION ROAD (West side)
ST6834NW
8/175 Church of St. Mary
24.3.61
GV I
Parish Church. c1350 and later with chancel by Nathaniel Ireson of Wincanton, 1743; possibly on older foundations.
Local stone cut and squared with Doulting stone dressings; shallow lead-covered roofs, but with Welsh slates to North
tower. 6-cell plan, with 3-bay chancel; nave, North and South aisles of 5 bays each; Eastern extensions of 1 bay to
aisles to form vestry and organ chamber; West entrance tower and also a North tower. Chancel has plinth, slim offset
corner buttresses, open parapet with piers; no East window, but to North and South 2-light semi-circular arched windows
with roundel over in plain pointed arch surround; blocked segmental arched recess on South side. North aisle of c1350;
plinthed; angled corner and offset bay buttresses, crenellated parapet; 3-light pointed arch window with mid C15
tracery; South aisle and nave similar in character, all C15; parapets of openwork with pinnacles; in centre of South
aisle low moulded pointed arch doorway having C16 door with central wicket gate. In centre of North aisle is the North
Tower of c1350; 3-stages; no plinth, angled corner buttresses, string course, crenellated parapet, corner gargoyles;
square stair turret on South West corner taller than tower itself; North doorway of two chamfered orders in pointed
arch; to West low C16 window, and above C19 plain windows to all three sides; to stage 2 are a C19 2-light window in
recess to North face; to stage 3 are C15 traceried 2-light windows under pointed arch, without labels, all faces. West
Tower of 1445/46, in 4 stages; tall, with plinth, offset corner buttresses for most of height, ending in pinnacles,
string courses, ornamented crenellated parapets with quatrefoils and decorated band below, gargoyle heads to sides;
4-centre moulded arch doorway to West under square label with foliage decoration to spandrils; immediately above a
6-light C15 style traceried window whose pointed arch breaks into next stage; stage 2 has 3 canopied statue niches, the
centre set higher, on West; to North and South 2-light C15 traceried windows in recesses with labels and cill courses;
stage-3 has similar windows all round, and set under West window is a clockface; 4th stage has sets of three 2-light
mullioned and transomed windows as arcading, with dividing pinnacled pilasters. Interior has fine C18 plasterwork to
chancel, with ornamental ribbed ceiling vault on Classical corbels, with bosses; fine 3-bay reredos with Corinthian
pilasters, full entablature and pediment to centre bay, plaster swags and drops to panels; C18 altar rail and boxed
choirstalls; screen in high 4-centre chancel arch to match, but dated 1938. Nave arcades have almost triangular
4-centre arches on slim 4-hollow piers, with wide but low clerestorey windows of between 1506 and 1523; roof of tie
beam and king-post construction with traceried infill, of same date; aisle roofs to match. Blind C15 windows at East
end of aisles, and remains of stairways to North aisle and nave rood lofts; similar traces in South side. Crypt under
chancel of c1350. Among the fittings are a cinquefoil cusped piscina to South aisle wood pulpit of early C17 on stone
base; C17 bench ends in Nave; a large possibly C13 chest with two lids, a Charles II hatchment board, and the 1620
chancel screen now fitted across the tower arch. Monuments include one to Sir Maurice Berkeley, died 1581, with
recumbent effigies of himself and two wives in an Easter sepulchre-type recess with double round arched front,
Corinthian pilasters and strapwork panels; to Captain the Hon. William Berkeley, died 1733, erected 1749, by P.
Scheemakers, - a draped urn with flags on heavy plaque; another broken pedinented plaque with urn and base swags to
William Berkely, died l741; also black marble monument with segmental pediment and bronze bust and decoration, possibly
by Le Sueur, to William Godolphin, died 1636. In nave a much weathered chest tomb of early C15 with quatrefoil panels.
(Couzens and Blake, A Guide to St. Marys, Bruton 1974; Couzens P, Bruton in Selwood, Abbey Press, Sherborne, 1972;
Gunnis R, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660- 1851, Abbey Library, 1951).